Battery-caged hens are among the most abused of God’s animals. They spend
their life in filth, hyper-confined, unable to stretch their wings, or play,
or mate, or nest, or roost, or breath fresh air, or feel the sunlight, or
even touch ground. And male chicks born from egg-laying hens are ground up
alive or tossed in trash bags to suffocate.
The vast majority of these hens, billions every year just in the U.S., never
know of a kind touch. However, thanks to the tireless work of animal
advocates, some of these hens are rescued from hellish conditions and become
ambassadors, who represent all those chickens still being exploited, and
killed for taste and profit. Here’s the story of 6 of these hens and 1
rooster who now live in peace and show the world that they are sentient
beings with feeling, emotions, needs and desires.

“Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy
untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don’t harass them, don’t deprive them
of their happiness, don’t work against God’s intent.”
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Our own Steve Kaufman, CVA chair, shares on this excellent op-ed why humans
need animal rights. He refers to the many clear devastating consequences of
raising animal for food, such as health issues (obesity, cancer,
heart-disease), environmental devastation and, of course, the unimaginable
suffering God’s animals experience. He also refers to the spiritual
consequences that must not be ignored, because as he states, “…as long as
people abuse animals for relatively trivial benefits, this dream of human
cooperation and salvation appears impossible.

Any value we might propose to
unite humanity -- such as the Golden Rule (do to others as we would like
done to us), opposition to oppression and cruelty, and defense of the weak
-- is fundamentally contradicted by the unjust, massive mistreatment of
nonhuman beings. First, tolerating (or even financially supporting) animal
abuse contradicts those principles. Second, it undermines the idea of
compassion itself, a cornerstone of any such proposed cooperation. Third, it
is easy to shift the arbitrary boundary between human and animal to human
and "lower" human, and then deny justice to those "lower" humans.”

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better
than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but
also to the interests of others.

We are called to show humility to others and to not look at them as lesser
individuals. Should we apply this teaching to all of God's creatures and not
just humans? As stewards of God's Creation, our behavior toward all
creatures should be one of compassion, mercy and love. This truly shows we
are made in the image of a loving God.

Read about the extraordinary story of Renee King-Sonnen, who after marrying
a fourth generation cattle rancher, decides to go vegan.She
shares,“Witnessing the calves go to auction and the mamas crying every
night for a week is enough to drive a sensitive person over the edge.”And
that’s not all, she went on to change also her husband’s heart and are now
both working toward converting her husband’s ranch into a farm animal
sanctuary.

Never underestimate the power of love, compassion and example. May this
story inspire us to never give up on all around us because sometimes a
change of heart takes place in whom we least expect it. If you’d like to
contribute to Renee’s cause, you can make a donation at
Rowdy Girl Sanctuary by 3/31 and
receive an autographed photo!

For most people, it’s easy to forget that every single day in the U.S.,
about 100,000 cows are slaughtered and cut up to be sent out to grocery
stores in neat little packages. However, each one of these cows is a
sentient being, who was created by God with instincts, needs and emotions.

Fair Use Notice: This document, and others on our web site, may contain copyrighted
material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners.
We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use
of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law).
If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.